Monaco Grand Prix - Free Practice Three

One thing to look out for at Ferrari is Vettel's slight helmet change. He's basically got the same design in a more 1970s style and a bit more black on it to make it look retro. Doubt that is enough to get him one of those penalties no-one is really sure about.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:11:21 AM

Kvyat locks up and goes over the chicane at Nouvelle.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:11:36 AM

The Lotus drivers are fourth and fifith. The team gives Grosjean a complimentary radio message and tells him to box.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:12:45 AM

Kvyat currently the best of the rest, on the soft tyre, 1.660s down on Hamilton.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:13:00 AM

Hamilton shaves another three tenths off his time, lowering the benchmark to 1:16.705. Rosberg crosses shortly afterwards but is 0.566s down on his team-mate.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:13:43 AM

Have the drivers expressed any thoughts over the track changes at the swimming pool?

by RCC5/23/2015 9:13:45 AM

@RCC: On Wednesday the drivers seemed pretty nonplussed by the changes after their track walks. Will be interesting to ask them again after this session now they've had a chance to drive - but the changes look pretty minimal.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:14:14 AM

Alonso and Vettel are out on track for the first time. no Raikkonen just yet.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:14:34 AM

"Keep pushing, keep pushing, one more lap.""The tyres don't like two laps, dude," says Hamilton in reply. Peter Bonnington tells him to carry on for the tests Mercedes are carrying out.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:15:09 AM

It's pretty cloudy over Antibes, any chance of rain in Monaco?

by ZAC5/23/2015 9:15:23 AM

@ZAC: No forecasted rain yet.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:15:40 AM

Rosberg complaining about oversteer in the Mercedes.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:15:49 AM

Raikkonen is now out on track.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:15:54 AM

Nate don't you think may be just may be Mclaren can score their first points in Moncao?

by Sandeep5/23/2015 9:16:10 AM

@Sandeep: We'll see, this afternoon will be crucial if they do want to get any points. This is where the debate about refuelling becomes interesing - how many teams would do a Toro Rosso and run an FP1-style low fuel run to mix up the order in quali this afternoon? Would certainly add a bit more spice to things.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:16:57 AM

Both McLarens still in pits?

by Sandeep5/23/2015 9:17:00 AM

@Sandeep: Nope, both men are out on track.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:17:10 AM

I am very confused, The Mercedes looks a lot more unstable than the Ferrari and on a track where Engine doesn't really matter, all about balance and downforce, but like I said the Mercedes looks a lot more unstable than the Mercedes yet the Mercedes has been faster than the Ferrari. I find that strange cause the Mercedes looks more unstable and always looks like it has more oversteer and looks all over the place compared to Ferrari yet it's been faster than the Ferrari. It confuses me.

by Michael edited by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:17:50 AM

@Michael: I don't know if that's completely accurate. In the final sector in Spain, the one which is a good indicator of Monaco, the Mercedes was much stronger than Ferrari and looked much more balanced. People forget what a good aero package Mercedes has delivered, not only this year but last as well.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:18:26 AM

we need rain tomorrow to help them mclaren

by Iain Shore5/23/2015 9:18:30 AM

Some time ago, they were talking about 18'' rims. Don't hear much about that, have they ditched that?

by ZAC5/23/2015 9:18:39 AM

@ZAC: Nope, Pirelli boss Paul Hembery was talking about that on Thursday in fact. This is what he said: "There’s two schools of thought. Obviously go towards 18/19, closer to the road car. The other thought is that all of our current circuit tyres are 18 inch really, which differentiates, bizarrely, F1 away from what everyone else is going. I think the marketing department would like to keep 13", a nice big sidewall for branding on there we don’t have to pay for. Every cloud has a silver lining. We’ll do what the sport wants, ultimately, we’ve always aid that, we’ll find solutions to what they want."

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:20:12 AM

Button moves into seventh on the soft tyre.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:20:34 AM

What do you guys think the top 3 in qualifying will be? I think Ferrari will get pole. Ferrari look like they have a lot more in the bag than Mercedes for qualifying. There's not a big enough advantage from the Super-Soft time compared to Ferrari on the soft,

by Michael edited by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:21:01 AM

@Michael: Well, we haven't seen a supersoft run from Ferrari yet so I don't understand what you are referring to. Mercedes looks to be clearly quicker than anyone else so far this weekend, though I'm not ruling out a Ferrari on the front row.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:21:40 AM

Vettel runs across the Nouvelle chicane.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:21:46 AM

Danny Rico starting to put some laps together

by markc5/23/2015 9:21:49 AM

Raikkonen has moved into P3, while Ricciardo is four tenths behind him in fourth. Interesting Ferrari/Red Bull/Ferrari/Red Bull in the pecking order currently.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:22:20 AM

Out of all Engines we have only Honda engines sounds different.There is some inherent raw sound in that.Loving it!!

by Sandeep5/23/2015 9:22:25 AM

@Sandeep: Hearing it trackside is bizarre. To be perfectly honest with you, the Honda sounds like it's sick - spluttering through the motions with a really, really odd noise.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:23:09 AM

It seems to me that the proposed changes particularly tyres and wings may bring speeds up and lap times down but the cars will run even more on rails than they do now and so be less interesting and make following another car more difficult and so reduce overtaking, same problem. What do you think?

by Phil, Maidenhead5/23/2015 9:23:24 AM

@Phil,Maidenhead: That's certainly a concern. What F1 has to ensure is that it doesn't create exactly that situation.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:24:11 AM

We're seeing the first helmet cam on the FOM broadcast - Stevens has a camera on the side of his helmet. It looked fuzzy but gives you a good indication of how close they get to those walls. More of the same, please, F1.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:25:05 AM

Are the mercs the only super soft times?

by RCC5/23/2015 9:25:09 AM

@RCC: Yes but we have more drivers out there on supersofts now.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:25:25 AM

Alonso bails out of his latest lap after getting a bit too close to a Ferrari.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:25:50 AM

Hulkenberg moves into P4 on the supersoft tyre, 1.5s down on Hamilton.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:26:09 AM

Raikkonen's first supersoft lap sees him stay third - 0.6s down on Hamilton. And he thumps into the barrier at Turn 1! Yellow flags out.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:27:39 AM

"Ok. I took the rear wheel off," a rather bemused Raikkonen says.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:28:04 AM

Red flags are out as Raikkonen's car is parked at the bottom of the hill.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:28:14 AM

Alonso, meanwhile, went fourth with his own supersoft run.

by Nate Saunders5/23/2015 9:28:24 AM

Nate, given how Stoffel Vandoorne is killing it in GP2, is it safe to say that he jumped Magnussen in the McLaren pecking order should a spot open up?

by Phoenix5/23/2015 9:28:28 AM

@Phoenix: Hard to say. Magnussen isn't driving in a series at the moment and McLaren will see that - he could have driven in Indycar this year were it not for his last-minute replacement of Alonso in Australia. I think McLaren realises it has two drivers that both need to be driving in F1 next year. A real headache. Personally, I'd love to see them do something a bit different and send them off to Indycar for a year.